Spring + Hibernate: java.lang.ClassCastException

[nimchip]

Hello, I am very new to Spring + Hibernate, and I am running tests to see if my DAOs are working. I get the following error which upon searching in Google yields a lot of different answers. I'm hoping you can help me out on this:

java.lang.IllegalStateException: Failed to load ApplicationContext
	at org.springframework.test.context.TestContext.getApplicationContext(TestContext.java:308)
	at org.springframework.test.context.support.DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.injectDependencies(DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.java:109)
	at org.springframework.test.context.support.DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.prepareTestInstance(DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.java:75)
	at org.springframework.test.context.TestContextManager.prepareTestInstance(TestContextManager.java:321)
	at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.createTest(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:220)
	at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner$1.runReflectiveCall(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:301)
	at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:15)
	at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.methodBlock(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:303)
	at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:240)
	at org.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:49)
	at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.run(ParentRunner.java:193)
	at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$1.schedule(ParentRunner.java:52)
	at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runChildren(ParentRunner.java:191)
	at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.access$000(ParentRunner.java:42)
	at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$2.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:184)
	at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.java:61)
	at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.java:70)
	at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:236)
	at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.run(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:180)
	at org.junit.runner.JUnitCore.run(JUnitCore.java:157)
	at com.intellij.junit4.JUnit4IdeaTestRunner.startRunnerWithArgs(JUnit4IdeaTestRunner.java:71)
	at com.intellij.rt.execution.junit.JUnitStarter.prepareStreamsAndStart(JUnitStarter.java:199)
	at com.intellij.rt.execution.junit.JUnitStarter.main(JUnitStarter.java:62)
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
	at com.intellij.rt.execution.application.AppMain.main(AppMain.java:120)
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'nominationDao' defined in file [C:\IdeaProjects\Projects\branch\dev\test-dataacess\target\classes\com\dev\test\data\dao\hibernate\NominationHibernateDAO.class]: Instantiation of bean failed; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.BeanInstantiationException: Could not instantiate bean class [com.dev.test.data.dao.hibernate.NominationHibernateDAO]: Constructor threw exception; nested exception is java.lang.ClassCastException: sun.reflect.generics.reflectiveObjects.TypeVariableImpl cannot be cast to java.lang.Class
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.autowireConstructor(ConstructorResolver.java:288)
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.autowireConstructor(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1003)
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBeanInstance(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:907)
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:485)
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:456)
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:295)
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:222)
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:292)
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:194)
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:580)
	at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:900)
	at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:455)
	at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractGenericContextLoader.loadContext(AbstractGenericContextLoader.java:84)
	at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractGenericContextLoader.loadContext(AbstractGenericContextLoader.java:1)
	at org.springframework.test.context.TestContext.loadApplicationContext(TestContext.java:280)
	at org.springframework.test.context.TestContext.getApplicationContext(TestContext.java:304)
	... 27 more
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.BeanInstantiationException: Could not instantiate bean class [com.dev.test.data.dao.hibernate.NominationHibernateDAO]: Constructor threw exception; nested exception is java.lang.ClassCastException: sun.reflect.generics.reflectiveObjects.TypeVariableImpl cannot be cast to java.lang.Class
	at org.springframework.beans.BeanUtils.instantiateClass(BeanUtils.java:162)
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.SimpleInstantiationStrategy.instantiate(SimpleInstantiationStrategy.java:108)
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.autowireConstructor(ConstructorResolver.java:280)
	... 42 more
Caused by: java.lang.ClassCastException: sun.reflect.generics.reflectiveObjects.TypeVariableImpl cannot be cast to java.lang.Class
	at com.dev.test.data.dao.hibernate.AbstractHibernateDAO.<init>(AbstractHibernateDAO.java:50)
	at com.dev.test.data.dao.hibernate.NominationHibernateDAO.<init>(NominationHibernateDAO.java:36)
	at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
	at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:39)
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:27)
	at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:513)
	at org.springframework.beans.BeanUtils.instantiateClass(BeanUtils.java:147)
	... 44 more

What could cause this? Please let me know if I have to post AbstractHibernateDAO and NominationHibernateDAO (the post has a 10k character limit).

Thank you!